How our training works
In our experience, organisations have different training needs so one size doesn’t fit all.
We always start with a chat to understand your specific needs and tailor our training.
We collaborate with you throughout the creation and delivery of the training programme, so you always know what’s happening and how it relates to your objectives.
How Crocstar training works
We talk about the training you need and what problem(s) you want it to solve.
We talk about your organisation and relevant topics such as team structures, content processes, your users, research processes and the organisation's digital literacy.
From here we develop ideas for the course based on your needs and our experience of delivering training to similar organisations.
Then we send a quote based on the ideas we’ve talked about.
Once agreed, we’ll put together a course outline including what the session(s) will cover and where we will tailor to your organisation.
We talk through the outline and make changes if needed.
Once agreed, we build the full course. This is done on a shared document so you can make comments or suggest changes as it’s being written.
We deliver the training and collect feedback from attendees.
After the training, we debrief with you to make sure everything has gone well and see if there is any post-training support we can offer such as mentoring, content clinics or our content community.
What goes in the training
Anything you like! We usually deliver a mix of elements from one or more existing courses and then add extra ones to meet any specific needs that aren’t yet covered.
For example, for a recent online news publishing client we combined our existing plain English course with a bespoke section on headline writing.
If it’s about writing and communication: we can teach it.
Our trainers
Depending on the course and availability, you’ll be trained by Christine or one of our experienced team of Croctar trainers.
Christine Cawthorne is an experienced trainer who has been teaching people to write for the web since 2009.
She joined Government Digital Service in 2013 and trained thousands of people how to understand user needs, write in clearer language and use the GOV.UK style guide.
As well as giving training, Christine works as a content strategist helping public sector and non-profits with their content. She mentors content designers at all stages of their careers and runs the Crocstar content community.
Lisa Riemers is a communications and content consultant and trainer, with over 17 years’ experience helping organisations connect their people and tell their stories. She’s a champion for accessible content who bridges the gap between communications, product and technology teams.
She works with large organisations like the UK government, British Red Cross, G4S, Veolia, FirstGroup, and Direct Line Group and has trained thousands of people how to make the most out of their collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams. She builds communities online and offline and is also an artist, who brings her creative flair to the workplace.
Frankie Roberto is an experienced lead interaction designer and frontend developer.
He's got bags of experience working on digital services in government, including for the Department for Education, BEIS and Cabinet Office. Before that he worked at the BBC, Wellcome Collection and British Museum.
Frankie's been designing usable, accessible services that meet and pass government service assessments for 10+ years and is an active contributor within the government design community. He's been making websites since 1999, back when the web was new and novel.